Electrical connecting device



Jan. 11, 1938. o. SPAHR ELECTRICAL; CONNECTING DEVICE Filed Oct. 16, 1933 Patented Jan. 11,1938

. UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 4 Claims.

This invention relates to an electrical connecting device, and more particularly to an electrical connecting device adapted to connect miniature electric bulbs with electric cells or batteries of 5 thetype commonly known as flashlight batteries.

' It is the purpose of this invention to provide a cheap and easily manufactured device capable of forming, by simple and easy engagement with an electric bulb and electric cell or battery, a complete flashlight.

It has been hitherto known to provide similar devices to be attached to the large dry cell, but such devices could not be used with the more common and convenient flashlight cells, nor could such devices be used with more than one cell, a serious disadvantage because of the low voltage produced by a single cell.

Now in accordance with this invention, there is produced a simple, inexpensive, and easily manufactured device which may be used interchangeably with the large dry cell or with the small flashlight cells, and which may be used to effect electrical connection with two or more 25 cells in series.

Referring to the drawing, Figure 2 is a front elevation of one form of the device in accordance with this invention. This form consists of a wire, usually copper, of sufllcient' thickness to possess a certain rigidity, say' about 14 gauge, bent to form a pin member 5 provided with a pointed end 6 made by shearing the wire at an acute angle to its cylindrical surface, and equipped, if desired, with spurs 1 formed, for example, by chipping with a chisel. The wire is bent at 8 to provide a certain resiliency and is coiled adjacent its free end at 9 to provide a socket for a miniature electric lamp, The free end is bent back to form a handle member Ill.

Figure 3 represents a modification of the device shown in Figure 2, in which the pin member I9 is made longer than pin member 5 for use with a flashlight battery having two or more cells, and in which the wire is coiled at l I instead of being merely bent as at 8 in Figure 2.

Figure l is a front elevation partly in section of the form of device shown in Figure 2 in com-.

bination with a single flashlight cell and miniature bulb as assembled for use. i represents the well-known flashlight unit cell having a central electrode 2, a zinc casing 3, and a cardboard jacket 8.

The pin member 5 of the connecting device is inserted between the zinc casing 3 and the jacket 4. The point 6 is designed to prevent the pin member from penetrating the cardboard jacket upon insertion, and the pin member is accordingly retained in close electrical contact with the zinc casing. The spurs 1 act to hold the pin member tightly in position and prevent the loosening thereof. The bulb i2 is screwed into socket 9, and the assembly as shown then constitutes a complete flashlight.

In operation, for intermittent or flashing use the parts are maintained in the position shown in the figure and the bulb is lighted by depressing handle l0 until contact l3 on the bulb is brought into contact with electrode 2 of the cell, thereby closing the circuit. Upon releasing the handle the resiliency of the wire operates to separate the contacts and open the circuit. For more continuous use the pin member 5 is inserted more deeply into the cell so as to hold contact l3 and electrode 2 permanently in contact. The circuit is broken when desired by pushing handle Ill sideways and so rotating the bulb and socket about the pin member as an axis, thereby separating the contacts. The circuit is closed again by merely pushing handle ill to ro-' tate the parts back into contact.

Figure 4 is a front elevation partly in section showing the device shown in. Figure 3 assembled for use with a miniature bulb and a flashlight battery having two cells. The battery is composed of a cardboard jacket l5 containing two unit cells in electrical contact. The central electrode of the upper unit cell is shown at l6, and its zinc casing at ll, the central electrode of the lower cell is in contact with this zinc casing ll and the lower cell has a zinc casing ill. The long pin member i9 is to be inserted in the battery so as to contact zinc casing l8, but not contact zinc casing II. In the structure shown a slit 20 has been cut in jacket I5 just below the point at which zinc casing ll stops for the insertion of the pin member. Pairs of slits have also been cut at 2| and 22 to provide little bands of cardboard to support the pin member i9. Instead of having the slits preformed, their location on the jacket may be indicated by appropriate marking, and the slits may be made by the purchaser.

The assembled flashlight as shown in Figure 4 is operated in the same manner as that described above for the device shown in Figure 1.

It will be appreciated that this invention is not limited to the specific structures described and il-. lustrated by way of example above, but it is to be interpreted as directed broadly to any and all equivalent structures as defined in the claims hereinafter set forth.

' What I claim and desire to protect by Letters Patent is: v

1. In combination an electric cell having a central electrode forming one terminal and a metal casing forming a second terminal, a jacket covering a portion of said metal casing, a pin member formed from one end of a length of wlreinserted between said metal casing and said jacket to contact said casing, a bulb socket formed by a series of convolutions coiled from the opposite end of the said wire, a bend in said wire between said pinmember and said bulb socket and a bulb held by said socket, said elements being so located in reference to one another that the bulb may be contacted with the central terminal of said cell to complete the electrical circuit.

2. In combination an electric battery composed of a plurality of cells, each having a central electrode forming one terminal and a metal casing forming a second terminal, electrically.

- connected in series by the superposition of one cell upon another, a jacket covering a portion or each cell of the said battery and holding said cells in position to form the battery, a pin member formed from one end of a length of wire inserted through said jacket at a point to contact the metal casing of only the lowermost cell of said battery, a bulb socket formed by a series of convolutions coiled from the opposite end of the said wire, a bend in said wire between said pin member and said bulb socket and a bulb held by said bulb socket, said elements being so located in reference to one another that the bulb may be contacted with the central terminal of the uppermost cell of said battery to complete the electrical circuit. I

3. An electrical connecting device adapted to provide a lamp attachmentfor dry cells and comprising a single length of wire bent to form two legs extending at substantially right angles to'each other, one leg being of considerably greater length than the other and being formed into a point at its free end, and the other leg having a series of convolutions bent from adjacent itsfree end and forming a lamp socket and a convolution in said wire at the junction of the two legs.

4. An electrical connecting device as claimed in claim 3, additionally characterized by the fact that the longer leg is provided with upwardly directed spur-like projections thereon.

O'I'I'O SPAHR. 

